Gender Bias Of Children 's Toys

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Recommended: Media representation on gender

Gender bias exists in all parts of a person’s life, but is very noticeable with a walk down the toy aisle at a local store. From Barbie to Tonka trucks, there is a clear difference in the way toys are created and marketed towards different genders. Why must girl toys be pink and frilly while boys get to play with weapons and build towers out of small plastic blocks? Is there a reason behind the steering of the genders into specific roles or is it mere coincidence? This paper examines some of the research into and the reasoning behind the gender bias in children’s toys. Is it real, or something that exists only in our minds? Using articles published with reliable sources and interviews from children, the author hopes to explain some of the differences and make the public aware of the bias that is being perpetuated in our everyday lives.

When examined closely, the timeline of toy development has become increasingly gender focused over the decades, going in the opposite direction that the gender equality movements have. Society divides toys by divided by color and type; pink, beauty, and home keeping for girls, and blue, fighting, and protection for boys. Girls being forced into this submissive place isn’t the only issue, boys have become afraid to show emotion because of this. Toys have been lumped into gender categories, with little concern that the development of children is being affected.

Is there a reason that boys and girls have different toys, or it something that is forced upon them? There is a significant lack of scientific research grounding the divide between genders. Professor Anya Hurlbert has found that females prefer redder hues, while it is only slightly so, his theory is that it is a result of the ancien...

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...s can become star athletes, boys can become gourmet chefs and the world will continue to turn. A large amount of emphasis is being placed on superficial worries instead of real issues that face the differences between genders. Let children play with the toys that they want, banning a type of toy based on color or gender will most likely result in making the toy even more desirable in the long run. Children will surprise you, when given several female dolls and a single male doll, instead of forming a happy family oriented play, the child instead draws patterns on all of the dolls with Sharpie and turns them into a nudist tribe living their lives out in the bedroom closet. Children follow the examples set for them in life, ‘a woman who gave her daughter tools, in place of dolls, discovered the child undressing a hammer and singing it to sleep’ (Bennett C. , 2014).

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